NHTSA accused of
ignoring calls for crash-avoidance technology in large trucks.
The AP (9/15) reported, “Tractor-trailers and
other large trucks aren’t required to have crash-avoidance technology, despite
thousands of crashes annually and repeated calls for it to be mandated.” The
Kansas City Star found that NHTSA “has largely ignored repeated pleas from the
National Transportation Safety Board to take action that would prevent trucks
from rear-ending other vehicles. Only a small percentage of semis on the road
today have collision avoidance technology, although on at least 10 occasions
since the late 1990s, the safety board recommended that NHTSA require forward
crash avoidance and mitigation systems on all heavy trucks.”
GM recalls 1.2 million
vehicles over power steering issue.
Reuters (9/13) reports that GM said Thursday
it is recalling 1.205 million pickup trucks and SUV worldwide over issues that
leads to a “temporary loss of power steering.” The affected vehicles covered by
the recall are 2015 Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac pickup trucks and SUVs. GM
spokesman Tom Wilkinson “said the automaker has received reports of 30 crashes
and two injuries, but no deaths linked to the recall.”
The AP (9/13) reports that “more than 1 million of
the trucks are in the US, and most of the rest are in Canada and Mexico.” A
small number of the affected vehicles are in other countries. Last year, GM
recalled 2014 model year trucks over the same issue.
USA Today (9/13, Bomey, 12.57M) reports that
GM told the NHTSA in a regulatory document, “These vehicles may experience a
temporary loss of” electric power steering, “followed by a sudden return,”
especially “during low-speed turning maneuvers.” GM said, “The loss and sudden
return of EPS assist typically happens within a 1 second period and is caused
by an electrical/software issue.” The automaker “said it launched a safety
investigation on the matter on June 28” and following an analysis of “customer
complaints, conducting tests and completing engineering analyses, the automaker
decided Aug. 30 to initiate a recall.”
Bloomberg News (9/12, 4.8M) reports that
autonomous vehicles are getting increasingly popular. The article surveys the
industry and raises issues, such as the issue of how autonomous vehicles
interact with other autonomous vehicles as something that has to yet be “ironed
out.” The article raises other issues, saying that “humans will quickly learn
how to push these types of suckers around,” antagonizing autonomous vehicles,
by jumping in front of them, for example. Despite all of these unresolved
issues, the article concludes, self-driving cars will “profoundly change our
car culture forever.”
Toyota recalls more than
1 million Prius, C-HR vehicles due to fire risk.
Bloomberg News (9/5, Buckland, Horie, 4.46M)
reports that Toyota Motor Corp. has issued a recall on 1.03 million Prius and
C-HR vehicles “due to the risk of fire.” The recall will affect 554,000
vehicles in Japan and 192,000 in the US. The cars feature an engine wire harness
that is at risk of wear over time
Nissan recalls 165,000
newer vehicles over risk they could turn off while in use.
MLive (MI) (9/4, 983K) reports that Nissan
“says it will recall about 165,000 newer vehicles due to the risk they could
turn off while in motion.” The automaker “confirmed the recall of the 2017-18
Juke, Frontier, Sentra, Versa, Versa Note, Micra, NV, NV200 and the NV taxi in
the U.S. and Canada to both Consumer Reports and CNET’s Roadshow.” Nissan “says
it is not aware of any incidents related to the recall, and that this measure
is simply ‘out of an abundance of caution.’”
19,400 2012 Toyota
Avalons being recalled over front seat belt issue.
Cars (9/4, 925K) reports that “approximately
19,400 model-year 2012 Toyota Avalon sedans” are being recalled due to “a
service part manufacturing error at a Toyota supplier,” which may have led to
some Avalons having “a front seat belt inner buckle replaced with one that does
not correctly identify if the seat belt is buckled.” This could “affect how the
airbag system determines the appropriate airbag deployment method in a crash,
increasing the risk of injury to the occupant where the front seat belt inner
buckle was replaced.”
Man claims Tesla was in
auto-pilot mode when it crashed into fire truck.
The San Jose (CA) Mercury News (8/25, Sanchez,
552K) reports Michael Tran, the 37 year-old driver of a Tesla who crashed his
vehicle into a fire truck, said, “I think I had auto-pilot on” at the time of
the accident early Saturday morning in San Jose. A Tesla spokesperson said the
company “has not yet received any data from the car, but we are working to
establish the facts of the incident.” The New York Post (8/27, Press, 4.46M) reports
similarly
